Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a washing machine equipped with a detergent box having a structure which is used in order to introduce both liquid and sheet type fabric softeners. More specifically, the present invention relates to a washing machine which allows a user not only to supply liquid fabric softener mainly used conventionally but also to supply detergents regardless of the type of fabric softener by realizing a housing structure and water supply algorithm that enable sheet-shaped fabric softener to be dissolved sufficiently in water and supplied without additionally installing a receiving platform for sheet-shaped fabric softener when the user attempts to use a recently-developed sheet-shaped fabric softener.
Description of the Related Art
A washing machine is a device which supplies various types of detergents, such as laundry detergent, bleach, or fabric softener, and water and cleans laundry via washing, rinsing, and dewatering to remove dirt from the laundry such as clothes or bedding by using water, detergent and mechanical rotation. The laundry is washed as a washing tub containing the water, detergent, and laundry is rotated by a driving mechanism inside the washing machine.
Inside the washing machine, disposed are a water supply mechanism supplying water to a washing tub, a drainage mechanism draining water inside the washing tub to the outside, and a detergent supply mechanism on a water-supply flow pathway of the water supply mechanism supplying detergents to the inside of the washing tub.
The detergent supply mechanism includes a dispenser connected to the water-supply flow pathway and a detergent box (drawer) for containing various types of detergents including fabric softener, the detergent box being disposed in such a way that the detergent box can be loaded or unloaded to and from the dispenser.
In recent years, research has been done actively on constituents and forms of detergents. For example, in the case of fabric softener, sheet-shaped fabric softener has been put into practical use, which allows the user to pull out like tissues, in comparison to the conventional liquid type.
With such various types of detergent supply structures, the present invention provides an improved technology which gives more convenience to a manual detergent supply mechanism allowing the user to withdraw a detergent box and directly introduce various types of detergents therein.